York city council voted to approve a bill that allows food trucks to operate in the city. But, not everyone welcomes this decision. Council passed the bill 3 to 2, but made several amendments which drastically changes when these food trucks can operate in the city.
The food trucks’ hours of operation were originally slated to be from 7pm to 2am. But, tonight council voted to expand those hours from 7am to 2am. Another concern, should these trucks be allowed to park in front of businesses? People against this bill are worried that the trucks will have a negative impact on the brick and mortar businesses.
“What I am against is that they will take up the parking that is surrounding the markets. There was supposed to be a two hour limit on them to park there but as a business owner if they have a lot of customers that’s going to exceed that two hour limit they’re not going to stop and pick up and move somewhere else,” said Phyllis Destephano, a central market vendor.
Food trucks first arrived in the city with events like Foodstruck, which featured mobile restaurants. That event drew in about 10,000 people this past August. Since then, bringing food trucks in the city full time has been a hot topic. Many believe this will bring more economic development to the downtown area.
“I think that overall a positive outcome happened tonight. and I think that when we look at this 5, 10 years down the line, this is great for the city of York,” said Philip Given, who organizes Foodstruck and owns a pretzel business in the city.
The permit to operate a food truck would cost about 300 dollars a year. The mayor has 10 days to approve or veto the bill. If she approves it food trucks could begin operating 20 days later.
